There is an audience out there for literate films - slower, more observant, more human films, and they deserve to be made.

Comedy is a wonderful device for distance that allows us to look at what we're talking about with some degree of distance and hopefully with a bit more perspective and honesty. With many exceptions, a movie with no jokes is far less appealing to me.

I like voice-over in films, and most of my films have been voice-over films.

I always wanted 'Sideways' to be like a great 1960s Italian film.

I like to think of film-making not just as an act of personal self-aggrandisement but rather as an act of public service.

I think if you watch most of my films with the sound off, you could still tell what's going on.

My editor and I remain very disciplined. It's just sometimes when you're making a film, you get into the cutting room and you see a scene that's slowing you down in a certain section, but if you remove that scene then, emotionally or story-wise, another scene a half-hour later won't have the same impact. You just get stuck with it.